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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What % of your income from work do you spend because of work?

454 replies

verdantverdure · 09/03/2023 16:21

AIBU to ask you what percentage of your income from working you spend because you are working?

A younger family member has asked me to cast an eye over her sums and it looks to me like she can't afford to go back to work after maternity leave.

Once you add up nursery and the commute, she's already running at a loss even before she buys new work clothes to fit her post pregnancy figure and current norms at her workplace.

Not including convenience foods such as pre chopped veg or a bought in lasagne etc so she can get dinner on the table soon after she gets home, or takeaways for the nights she's too shattered to do that.

A cleaner do her weekends can be family time not housework time?

Treats to cheer her up because life is a bit of a grind?

Stuff like hair, make up and nails so she looks "groomed" at work?

What about you?

What percentage of your income from working do you spend because you are working?

OP posts:
LookingOldTheseDays · 09/03/2023 16:26

I dont recognise a lot of the expenses you've listed as work expenses tbh.

I work a "corporate" job, attend external meetings and the like, and I spend precisely nothing on my nails, hair and makeup that I wouldn't otherwise spend just because I'm alive and like to look neat and tidy. I get my hair cut, buy moisturiser etc., but that's it. Even when I worked in consulting, my job require me to do more than that.

Treats? Surely SAHMs enjoy treats too?

And why is dinner apparently only her responsibility? What about the father?

gwenneh · 09/03/2023 16:27

About 13%. That figure includes 50% of the cost of nursery, gardener, and cleaner, the extra food budget over and above what we'd spend if we didn't need to save time, the petrol, clothing on an average per month basis (but only for work clothes, not for clothing I'd also wear at home.)

LookingOldTheseDays · 09/03/2023 16:27

^ Even when I worked in consulting, my job didn’t require me to do more than that.

Botw1 · 09/03/2023 16:29

Is she a single mother living in the 50s?

IamSmarticus · 09/03/2023 16:30

Not including convenience foods such as pre chopped veg or a bought in lasagne etc so she can get dinner on the table soon after she gets home, or takeaways for the nights she's too shattered to do that.
A cleaner do her weekends can be family time not housework time?
Treats to cheer her up because life is a bit of a grind?
Stuff like hair, make up and nails so she looks "groomed" at work?

None of those are necessities though are they, nice to have but not essential.

lieselotte · 09/03/2023 16:31

The only things I can think of are commuting costs and if I buy lunch/coffee etc while out. I usually take a sandwich, and I mainly work from home now so my commuting costs are much lower.

But pre covid, commuting costs took up 10% of DH's PRE-tax pay.

IamSmarticus · 09/03/2023 16:31

And you answer your actual question, I just spend money on fuel to get me there and back.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 09/03/2023 16:31

Around 0.5%. Mainly commuting costs, parking and lunches. No childcare costs and I have been using the same work clothes for years! We don't use a cleaner, we cook normal food. And I would have my hair cut whether I worked or not.

rothbury · 09/03/2023 16:31

Gosh hardly anything. Rarely go into office and it’s only seven miles away anyway. All other travel gets paid for. A couple of suits, but most of my clothes are multi purpose.

Hair/nails/makeup would all be done anyway.

I get a generous allowance for food and drinks bought out and about.

eirlaw · 09/03/2023 16:31

She needs to factor in how hard it can be to get back into work and pension issues - rather than focus on expenses which seem more life style than work expenses and then make her decisions.

lieselotte · 09/03/2023 16:32

Also the nursery fees are only half hers - the other half come out of the father's earnings.

PacificallyRequested · 09/03/2023 16:32

I'm struggling to think of anything I spend because I work. I walk there so no commuting costs, and I have a pretty casual job so I just wear my normal clothes. I suppose maybe a morning cuppa and lunch from the canteen, but I have to eat so I either spend the money there or in the supermarket.

Comedycook · 09/03/2023 16:33

I think the only expenses I'd count in your analysis would be childcare, travel and work clothes at a push.

Plenty of women work and cope without a cleaner or lots of takeaways.

rubyslippers · 09/03/2023 16:34

Is she a single parent?

minford · 09/03/2023 16:34

Comedycook · 09/03/2023 16:33

I think the only expenses I'd count in your analysis would be childcare, travel and work clothes at a push.

Plenty of women work and cope without a cleaner or lots of takeaways.

This

mynameiscalypso · 09/03/2023 16:35

There are plenty of costs associated with being a SAHM too - not essential but 'nice to haves'. There are certainly not enough free activities to keep me sane if I were a SAHM. I don't work today and I've spent about £50 on travel + entry to an attraction + lunch for me and DS. I don't have to do that, of course, but in the same way that a working parent doesn't need to buy pre-prepared veggies.

percypal · 09/03/2023 16:35

To be fair to the OP, getting a cleaner is often recommended on here when working mothers post about how busy life is and how they have no time. No it’s not a necessity but it is often brought up as a good idea.

Alphabet1spaghetti2 · 09/03/2023 16:36

Necessary for work - all expenses for my car, as I only have it so I can work. So maybe 10% or a bit less of my annual wage.
I don’t use the car for anything else.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 09/03/2023 16:37

percypal · 09/03/2023 16:35

To be fair to the OP, getting a cleaner is often recommended on here when working mothers post about how busy life is and how they have no time. No it’s not a necessity but it is often brought up as a good idea.

Yeah, if you don't get home until 6 or 7, then do bedtime and make dinner I don't know when you would do housework except the weekends if you didn't have a cleaner.

OP posts:
Overthebow · 09/03/2023 16:38

I only include half of nursery fees as DH is also responsible for half, so about 14%. I also don’t include convenience foods, takeaways, cleaner, treats, make up, or hair as these are not required for work and are a nice to have extra, not necessities.

KievsOutTheOven · 09/03/2023 16:38

lieselotte · 09/03/2023 16:32

Also the nursery fees are only half hers - the other half come out of the father's earnings.

They might be speaking about a proportion of their whole household expenditure. Not all couples do the “50%” thing.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 09/03/2023 16:38

lieselotte · 09/03/2023 16:31

The only things I can think of are commuting costs and if I buy lunch/coffee etc while out. I usually take a sandwich, and I mainly work from home now so my commuting costs are much lower.

But pre covid, commuting costs took up 10% of DH's PRE-tax pay.

I completely forgot lunches.

OP posts:
FrostyBits · 09/03/2023 16:42

I get what you're asking but what about the hidden 'costs' of not going back to work? I'm not saying she has to, everyone makes choices dependant on their circumstances, but if she steps away from the workforce for eg 5 years and loses her skills and confidence, stops making pension contributions and finds that her world shrinks I think that is worth a lot more than tallying up mascara and gel nails.

Invisimamma · 09/03/2023 16:42

Less than 10% of my income, but that's more like 6 or 7% because childcare is halved with dh.

Childcare yes, but only have 1 child in after-school club.
Commute, I WFH and travel to office once a week so it's £60 month.

I buy lunch and coffee once a week at work but that a luxury, so £40 a month on that.

Work clothes,my place is smart casual so I don't really buy anything extra.

The rest of the stuff you've talked about is just luxury or extras and not relevant to going back to work.

Original poster
verdantverdure · 09/03/2023 16:44

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 09/03/2023 16:31

Around 0.5%. Mainly commuting costs, parking and lunches. No childcare costs and I have been using the same work clothes for years! We don't use a cleaner, we cook normal food. And I would have my hair cut whether I worked or not.

We've missed railway station car parking off the list.

OP posts:
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